Byrd, meanwhile, was in his 12th season in the major leagues without reaching the postseason. It worked out for both teams as the Pirates made it to the playoffs and Byrd helped, hitting .318 in 30 games with three homers and 17 RBIs.

The Phillies signed the 36-year-old Byrd to a two-year, $16 million deal last winter. He leads the Phillies in homers with 16 and has 49 RBIs.

He'll play in Pittsburgh this weekend for the first time since the Pirates lost to the Cardinals in the NLDS last October.

"I enjoyed it," Byrd said. "It was a good run last year, great organization, great group of guys, great fans. That's what you play this game for, to get to the playoffs and the World Series. We fell short, but I enjoyed every second."

The Phillies have a lot of catching up to do if they're going to enable Byrd to make the playoffs for a second straight season. The more likely scenario is that Byrd might have to go somewhere else to accomplish that. The Phillies might look to trade some of their veterans, including Byrd, before the July 31 deadline.

Byrd said he didn't worry about a trade last season when he was with the Mets, and he's not about to worry about it now.

"I didn't think [the Mets] were going to move me," Byrd said. "But what they did was they put me in a position to have a chance to get to the playoffs, and they got a great arm in return [in prospect Vic Black]. I think it was a win-win for both sides."

Power switch

Sandberg moved Ryan Howard to fifth in the batting order against a righty on Wednesday, the first time he had done that this season. The other eight times Howard batted fifth was against a lefty starter. In those situations, Byrd batted cleanup.

But Sandberg had Howard back in the cleanup spot Thursday even though the Marlins started a lefty in Brad Hand.

"That was just a little change in momentum or karma," Sandberg said about moving Howard down against a righty. "The way Byrd was swinging the bat going into that and then switching it up. Typically speaking, when Byrd is behind Howard, I would presume there would be more strikes thrown to Howard. That's more of his capability hitting pitches in the zone when Byrd is behind him. So I actually think that's the better way to go."

Howard came into the game hitting just .218 with five extra base hits since June 11.

Hollands OK

Sandberg said reliever Mario Hollands was OK after taking a ball off his knee while pitching in the eighth inning Wednesday night. Hollands stayed in the game after taking the shot off the bat of Marcell Ozuna. He then served up a two-run homer to Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the Phillies' 5-0 loss.

The homer ended Hollands' scoreless inning streak at 18.

When Jeff Baker followed with a long double, Sandberg came out and pulled Hollands, who was then diagnosed with a knee contusion.

Sandberg said he didn't intend to use Hollands on Thursday.

Up next: Pirates

The Phillies will continue their 10-game road trip with a three-game series in Pittsburgh against the Pirates, who were 44-40 heading into their game against Arizona on Thursday. The Pirates are 32-20 since May 5, pulling to within six games of Milwaukee in the NL Central.